Davis started his career as a sales engineer at the LFE Corporation in Waltham, Massachusetts, and as marketing manager for the Applied Geodata Systems Division of Techven Associates of Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 1972, he bought New Balance, then only a 6-employee firm in Boston, and turned it into a 4,000-employee global corporation with revenues averaging around $2.5 billion every year.[1] He has been a board member of the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association, the International Athletic Footwear & Apparel Manufacturers Association, and the Two/Ten Foundation.[6] He also sits on the board of directors of the Citizen's Bank in Providence, Rhode Island.[6]
He has donated $5 million to the University of Maine.[1] He is the recipient of an Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater, Middlebury College.[1] A library on its campus has also been named for him.[5] He formerly sat on its board of trustees, on the Worcester Academy's, and on Newbury College's.[7] He sits on the board of trustees of the Sports Museum of New England and formerly Boston Children's Museum.[8]
As of 2017, Davis is the 324th richest person in the world, and the 94th richest in the United States, with an estimated wealth of US$5.1 billion.[1]
Davis donated almost $400,000 to the Trump Victory Committee in September 2016.[11] In an interview given to Wall Street Journal reporter Sara Germano on the day following the 2016 presidential election of Donald Trump, a New Balance senior executive suggested support for Trump due to his opposition to the Trans-Pacific Partnership. Widely reported social-media reaction documented numerous New Balance owners destroying or disposing of their shoes—with many pledging lifetime boycotts of the company.[12][13][14]
In 2021, Davis gave $495,000 to a super PAC supporting Boston mayoral candidate Annissa Essaibi George, who won second place in the preliminary election in September, enough to advance to the general election.[15]
